


A Very Good Girl

by dancemagic



Category: SEAL Team (TV)
Genre: Blood and Injury, SEAL Team (TV) Week 2021, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-14 23:00:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28928436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dancemagic/pseuds/dancemagic
Summary: Bravo’s new canine member is thrust into the fire during the team’s desperate search for Ray.Brock can only hope she’s ready.
Comments: 12
Kudos: 47





	A Very Good Girl

**Author's Note:**

> This is for Friday's SEAL Team Week 2021 prompt, "In my defense, he was already dead when I got here." 
> 
> This is spoilery if you aren't caught up on the show, and I used the promo for next week to extrapolate a bit. But I obviously have no idea where they're going with the story.

As Brock releases the lead from the harness and Pepper takes off through the door and down the long, dark corridor of the warehouse, he’s apprehensive about how she’ll perform, and more importantly, what she’ll find at the other end. This is her first real test, and the life of one of Brock’s best friends hangs in the balance.

They’re all hoping and praying with everything they have that Ray’s in the building and that he’s alive. Brock doesn’t think they’ll be able to handle it if this turns out to be another dry hole. He’s pretty sure Jason will crack completely.

From the beginning, it’s felt like the task force and Bravo team have been a step behind. Tunis, Sousse, the ship on the Mediterranean – everywhere they hit, they end up being too late. It would be easy to lose hope, but it’s Ray, and they’ll do anything in their power to get him back.

Their brother has been gone for far too long, and they’re all getting desperate. The Al Khidhir Movement has a penchant for killing Americans in horribly brutal ways, and that’s not something Brock can even let himself imagine happening to Ray.

They’ve seen the horrific videos more times than Brock can count.

There’s the one with Ray and another man, knelt on the ground with blades held to the fragile skin of their throats. What Brock can’t erase from his memory is the look on Ray’s face when the other man was killed. It was a mix of deep despair and defiant determination, and Brock could see how hard he’d tried to remain stoic, to not give anything away to his captors. But there was also a look of expectation and acceptance. Ray knew it was going to happen, and Brock wonders how long he thinks he has until it happens to him.

Then came the other video. The one Ray somehow managed to shoot and get out to them on his own. It’s clear in that one that Ray’s fighting with everything he has, but that he sees a certain inevitability in his fate. It made Brock tear up when they gathered to watch it for the first time, and then that sadness and despair transformed to a burning hot ball of anger he doesn’t think he’s ever felt so fiercely before. 

They know that any moment could be Ray’s last, if he hasn’t been killed already. They’re out of time. _Ray’s_ out of time. And if they don’t find him in this warehouse, Brock’s afraid they never will.

As they enter the building in search of their brother, Brock regrets retiring Cerberus. If he’d only known this was going to happen to Ray, he would have kept Cerb on a little longer. Just one more mission. Because Cerberus knows and loves Ray. He has a relationship with their second in command, and that connection means he’d do anything to protect him, just as he would any of Bravo’s members.

Brock has a lot of faith in Pepper’s ability; that’s not in question. He handpicked her himself, and from the time they’ve spent training together, he knows she’s going to be an excellent fit for the team.

But she doesn’t know Ray. She barely knows any of them, but definitely not Ray. He was away at Warrant Officer School while she was out training with the team. And when he returned from Rhode Island, he was pulled away to Tunisia before they even got a single training run in with him. Ray met the canine briefly, but they haven’t worked together in any capacity.

Brock knows in hindsight that Pepper definitely picked up on Ray’s scent back in that building in the Medina district in Tunis, when they missed their teammate by only minutes. Letting her get the scent off of his shirt is a perfectly acceptable method of tracking – in fact, it’s how things usually work. But still, he knows that Cerberus’s connection to Ray would benefit their situation and give them a better chance.

Now he has to wonder if Ray’s life is on the line because of his decision.

They take out several armed men as they work their way through the building. Brock takes their presence as a good sign; it means they’re there to guard something.

He suddenly hears an echoed cacophony of barking coming from up ahead, followed quickly by a series of aggressive snarls and growls. Then nothing. 

This is the type of mission that’s the hardest mentally and emotionally for him as the canine handler on a team like Bravo - when he has to send a partner into horribly dangerous situations without being right there by their side. In a lot of ways, military working dogs risk their lives far more than the people who train them, and it pains Brock every time he has to send one of his dogs out ahead of himself. But it’s his job, and he has to keep a level head and focus on the immediate task in front of him instead of being concerned for Pepper. This is what she’s trained for, and one slip on Brock’s part could mean disaster for him or one of his brothers. He can’t let that happen.

Brock feels like he’s crawling out of his skin by the time they finally round the last corner to find Pepper lying in front of a large metal reinforced door, breathing heavily and whining quietly.

Her snout is dripping with blood, but she definitely looks better than the lifeless man sprawled on the floor next to her in a growing red pool with his neck ripped open.

They’re all momentarily stunned and frozen in place by the brutality of it.

Pepper shakes her head, sending splatters of blood flying, and looks up at them all in turn, with a wry look that says, _In my defense, he was already dead when I got here_.

“It’s not pretty, but it’ll do,” Jason says, turning to Sonny and Clay, “Get us in there.”

While the team works to get the door open, Brock crouches down to give Pepper a once over. None of the blood seems to be hers, which is amazing considering the rifle and large knife he finds at the dead man’s side.

“Good girl, Pep,” he says. She perks up immediately, licking his hand with a bloody tongue and looking immensely satisfied with herself.

Then she turns to the door with her chin to the ground and whines, as if to say, _hurry up and get in there_. That’s when Brock just _knows_ they found Ray.

He’s proven right when the door finally creaks open to reveal their missing brother. He’s curled in the corner of the small room, lying on his side on the dirty, blood-stained concrete floor. Brock’s heart thumps in his chest at the lack of movement coming from the man. Pepper slips past their legs and into the room before any of them even have a chance to rush forward.

She nudges her body in to lean against Ray’s curved chest, her nose sniffing up his neck and around his face and head. She whines when Brock pulls her away so Trent and Jason can move in closer to check him out.

“Trent?” Sonny prompts shakily from the doorway. Brock turns to see Clay standing at his side, with Metal and Thirty posting security just beyond. They all share worried, anxious looks.

Brock watches as Trent checks Ray’s vitals, and he’s comforted by their medic’s even and steady demeanor. Surely, if Ray was dead or nearly there, he wouldn’t be so calm?

He sees Ray’s leg move first, slowly stretching out along the floor.

The next thing he hears is Jason’s gentle “Hey,” and he sees the weight lift off of their leader’s shoulders.

Trent helps Ray shift to his back so he can evaluate him more thoroughly, and that’s when Brock can finally see his face. His open eyes are the best sight Brock’s seen in weeks. They’re squinted and pain-filled, but they’re clear and aware, and that’s the moment Brock knows everything is okay. That Bravo team managed to escape one more close call and they’re going to bring Ray home to Naima, Jameelah and RJ in one piece instead of in a box.

It takes Trent a few more minutes to assess Ray’s condition, and what Brock can see isn’t pretty. He’s bruised and bloody from head to toe. What's left of his clothes is nothing but rags. He’s filthy and he stinks. The way his wrists are tied together looks painful, and Brock feels the relief in his own arms when Jason uses his shears to release them.

Trent eventually determines it’s safe to move him, and Ray insists on walking out under his own power. He leans heavily on Trent and Jason, and Brock can tell it’s excruciating, but he manages it.

On his way out, Ray casts a look to the dead man in the hallway, and Brock can tell by his haunted expression that much of his misery in recent days came from those hands. Ray’s gaze shifts slowly to Pepper and then up to Brock.

“She’s definitely lacking a certain finesse,” Brock explains with a shrug. “We’ll work on that.”

“I think we should keep her,” Ray manages a small smile past the grated words.

Pepper offers a yip and an excited spin in response.

She absolutely recognizes Ray, and Brock should have known she would. Ray’s scent is in the cage room and the briefing room. It’s in Brock’s apartment and on his clothes and belongings. He's part of Brock’s life, which means he’s part of Pepper’s, even if they haven’t been properly introduced.

Brock feels a smile spread across his face as he follows his brothers away from the room, and he knows he couldn’t wipe it away if he tried. Things finally feel settled; complete.

He reaches down to pat his partner’s head, and she looks up at him with wide, eager eyes.

“I might even be okay with her name now,” Sonny declares as he bends to ruffle the hair on her back as they head down the hallway. “Welcome to the team, Pep!”


End file.
